Get the current working directory.
char *_getcwd( char *buffer, int maxlen );
wchar_t *_wgetcwd( wchar_t *buffer, int maxlen );
| Routine | Required Header | Compatibility |
| _getcwd | <direct.h> | Win 95, Win NT |
| _wgetcwd | <direct.h> or <wchar.h> | Win NT |
For additional compatibility information, see Compatibility in the Introduction.
Libraries
| LIBC.LIB | Single thread static library, retail version |
| LIBCMT.LIB | Multithread static library, retail version |
| MSVCRT.LIB | Import library for MSVCRT.DLL, retail version |
Return Value
Each of these functions returns a pointer to buffer. A NULL return value indicates an error, and errno is set either to ENOMEM, indicating that there is insufficient memory to allocate maxlen bytes (when a NULL argument is given as buffer), or to ERANGE, indicating that the path is longer than maxlen characters.
Parameters
buffer
Storage location for path
maxlen
Maximum length of path in characters: char for _getcwd and wchar_t for _wgetcwd
Remarks
The _getcwd function gets the full path of the current working directory for the default drive and stores it at buffer. The integer argument maxlen specifies the maximum length for the path. An error occurs if the length of the path (including the terminating null character) exceeds maxlen. The buffer argument can be NULL; a buffer of at least size maxlen (more only if necessary) will automatically be allocated, using malloc, to store the path. This buffer can later be freed by calling free and passing it the _getcwd return value (a pointer to the allocated buffer).
_getcwd returns a string that represents the path of the current working directory. If the current working directory is the root, the string ends with a backslash ( \ ). If the current working directory is a directory other than the root, the string ends with the directory name and not with a backslash.
_wgetcwd is a wide-character version of _getcwd; the buffer argument and return value of _wgetcwd are wide-character strings. _wgetcwd and _getcwd behave identically otherwise.
Generic-Text Routine Mappings
| TCHAR.H Routine | _UNICODE & _MBCS Not Defined | _MBCS Defined | _UNICODE Defined |
| _tgetcwd | _getcwd | _getcwd | _wgetcwd |
Example
// GETCWD.C
/* This program places the name of the current directory in the
* buffer array, then displays the name of the current directory
* on the screen. Specifying a length of _MAX_PATH leaves room
* for the longest legal path name.
*/
#include <direct.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
void main( void )
{
char buffer[_MAX_PATH];
/* Get the current working directory: */
if( _getcwd( buffer, _MAX_PATH ) == NULL )
perror( "_getcwd error" );
else
printf( "%s\n", buffer );
}
Output
C:\code